Tidbits from the Week

Okay, so I decided to make a feature of this Tidbits entry, though no promises how long it’s going to last. It’s harder to scrape together all these random thoughts in a week than you’d think…

Sweeping sweeping the nation

I’ve been aware, for some time, that people here in Nicaragua are pretty big fans of brooms and sweeping. Whenever I visit our schools, I’m sure to see a handful of students with the task of sweeping the common areas (mainly outdoors). I also will often see people sweeping piles of garbage together in the street (which is done before it’s burned – lovely). Finally, my personal favorite is when you drive by houses where people are outside sweeping their front yards – yards that are made out of dirt. I don’t even understand that last one, but I guess it fits with the nationwide sweeping obsession.

This week, I saw the love for sweeping taken to a new level when not one but two of our small neighbor girls came over and, while the boys were playing, decided to start sweeping our yard/house/garden. Even after we told them they didn’t have to do that and could stop, they just kept going. I guess it was helpful enough though…minus the fact that the dust they swept in the air promptly blew back into the house with the wind, just like always.

Honk if you’re Nicaraguan

One of my favorite parts of Nicaraguan driving is the use of the horn, which is not for any of the same reasons as in, say, Chicago. In Chicago, it’s commonplace to hear frustrated drivers honking in traffic jams and at stoplights because someone is not moving fast enough. You hardly ever see this kind of road rage-driven honking in Nicaragua, even though traffic is often a complete disaster. I’ve also never heard anyone do this in other situations I’d deem logical, such as when there is a herd of cows blocking the road and not moving. Most Nicas choose to just sit through this patiently rather than hitting that horn.

However, this is not to say that Nicaraguan drivers don’t use this fine feature of most automobiles. They do – quite frequently in fact – though for completely different reasons. First, one thing that I had to adjust to when I got here is the fact that EVERY cab driver honks at you when you’re standing on the street to get your attention. It gets to be pretty annoying car after car, since, to me, it should be obvious I’m not looking for a cab if I’m not hailing one and have ignored the previous six honking cabs to boot. It’s even more obnoxious when you are actually in the cab, though. The thing with cab drivers here is that they will frequently pick up multiple passengers en route to your destination. This generally bothers me since it ends up slowing down your own trip and packing the car full. However, it bothers me even more because when a cab driver is looking to fill the car, you have to listen to that same frequent honking from inside the vehicle.

While the cab honking really annoys me, the other frequent use of car horns here entertains me to no end. I haven’t quite put my finger on how to describe it yet, but I think the best explanation is that the honk seems to say “If you don’t watch out, I’m going to hit you, and I don’t want that to happen.” Here are a couple examples. If you’re driving down the road and there are people walking in it, you give a couple of honks to tell them you’re behind them and get them out of the way. If you’re passing a car on the highway, you honk to say that you’re doing it. You also honk to tell people in the other lane that you’re passing – which probably is not a bad idea. When I get back to the States…and I guess also when I have a car again…I might bring that one back with me.

Pictures from Cusmapa!

Here are some pictures from my trip up north, as well as a few other miscellaneous leftovers from earlier.